Imperfection
by Deandra
Summary: Kata and Arawine share an early morning conversation. Fluffy little ONESHOT. Part 114 of the Elfwine Chronicles.


**_Part 114 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots built around the family group of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine. The total number will depend on how many ideas I get for new vignettes._**

**_A/N: Awhile ago, Tracey gave me some story ideas from real life that I haven't yet found a place for, but here's one I did._**

**Imperfection**

**(October, 45 IV)**

Kata smiled into the looking glass, watching her new husband as he moved about their chamber readying himself for the day. They had been wed a little over a sennight now, and it still sent a tingle through her to realize they were finally joined as man and wife.

She pulled herself from her musings and rose, dropping her robe on the bed and slipping quickly into her undershift and then the gown she had chosen to wear. As her head came through the collar, she noted Arawine was seating himself on the bench she had vacated in order to pull on his boots. He still had not yet donned his shirt and she watched the muscles in his back ripple with his movements.

Moving toward him, she noticed, not for the first time, the few scars sprinkled over his torso. As he had never actually been a soldier, she suspected most of them had been garnered during his rough play with Theodred, but there was a rather curiously shaped one on his shoulder that puzzled her. She stepped in close behind him, winding her arms about his neck and pressing a kiss to his head, and he reached up to draw her close, smiling tenderly at her in the looking glass.

They stayed thus for several moments, enjoying the intimacy, but at length Kata drew her left hand from his hold and fingered the small white scar on his shoulder. He silently watched her reflection, an eyebrow raised in curiosity until she queried, "Beloved, how did you come by this wound? It is an unusual shape and in a surprising location."

He grinned sheepishly at her and ducked his head. Glancing back up, his eyes twinkling, he commented, "I am not certain how my aunts and uncles have managed to overlook telling that tale to Esgalmir in order to embarrass Theodred!" All week, his family had been thoroughly enjoying telling Theodred's betrothed the most appalling stories about his youth, much to his horror. Though Arawine had been as much involved as Theodred in most of the escapades described, they had gleefully focused on tormenting their brother rather than their nephew.

Kata was watching him in the looking glass, but he caught her wrist and drew her around to sit on his lap as he continued his explanation.

"When we were about ten years of age, Theodred found a small bow and some arrows that had been given to my father when he was young. He had long since outgrown them, and they eventually ended up forgotten in a storage shed. We decided it would be great fun to learn this manly skill of archery, and enthusiastically set about doing as we had seen the men do – likely with far inferior results. Eventually, we got bored with shooting at unmoving targets, and I came up with the brilliant idea of shooting them into the air, and then we would try to dodge being hit by them coming down."

Kata gasped softly at this revelation, and he chuckled, assuring her, "It seemed harmless enough – just a stick falling from the sky. But it turned out they fall with much more force than we gave them credit. We were giggling so much and not paying attention, that I got lax and was struck by one – in the shoulder, where you see. It went in far enough to start bleeding, and I howled with pain when Theodred yanked it out. Likely we did all the wrong things in dealing with the situation, and then we stupidly tried to keep the mishap from our parents. Unfortunately, we did not think far enough ahead, and our pitiful attempts at washing the blood from my shirt were not entirely successful. Between the tear in the shoulder, the dried blood and a somewhat ransacked medicine chest, my nurse put the clues together and decided my mother needed to be informed. It did not take long for Mother and Grandmother to confront the two of us – for they knew that it was rarely a case of just one of us being guilty of something – and press the details from us."

Arawine stared at his hands, grinning at the memory, then looked up and shrugged at his wife. "We ended up cleaning chamber pots for a sennight as punishment, which left us with little inclination to try something like that again. But I still have a constant reminder of it, as you see."

Leaning over, Kata gently pressed a kiss to the puckered skin, then sat up to smile tenderly at her husband. "I am sorry you were hurt, beloved, but I love every part of you, even that which is less than perfect."

Passion flared in his eyes, and he claimed her lips eagerly. _Come to think of it_, Arawine mused, _there was nowhere else he truly needed to be just yet this morning..._

THE END

1/4/07

**_End note:  It is best that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order, but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content._**


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